Tag Archives: health blog

Day 7: One week milestone!

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  • Snack: 10 almonds
  • Exercise: 45 mins spin class
  • Breakfast: Scrambled eggs (half egg whites, half regular), sauteed escarole (I had never heard of this veg before), celery, coffee with milk
  • Lunch: Mixed salad with loads of veg, chicken, avocado
  • Snack: Half a carton of Chobani Greek yogurt and half a banana
  • Dinner: Kale salad with smoked salmon and chia seeds, apple cider vinegar, nectarine

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Today marked the one week milestone in my 100 Healthy Days in SF challenge. Whilst there are still 14.3 weeks left in the challenge I’m going to go right ahead and celebrate! Whilst the victory is small, I feel proud of myself for being consistent – both in terms of eating healthfully and blogging every day. Go me!

kale party

One week in and how do I feel? Not radically different- I obviously haven’t suddenly lost a stone or developed a six pack (not that I would want a six pack), but I do feel good. I feel slightly more alert and energetic than usual. I’ve also noticed that I’m not battling any major sugar cravings, which is amazing.

I was even able to go to Mitchell’s ice cream parlour in the Mission with my roommate last night and resist getting a scoop. Anyone who has ever been to this place will know how hard it is to say no. Their ice cream is goooood! Check them out. My fave is the Grasshopper Pie. Arrgghhh enough talk about ice cream.

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Mitchell’s Ice Cream parlour in The Mission. Check them out! 688 San Jose Avenue

 

It just goes to show that even one week of healthy eating can have a positive effect on your well-being. I’m looking forward to seeing how I feel at the end!

Michelle x

Day 6: The 100 Healthy Days in SF Rules

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Breakfast: Scrambled eggs, steamed greens, raw red peppers, raw celery, coffee with milk

Exercise: 1 hour PT session

Lunch: Mixed salad with loads of veggies and grilled chicken, balsamic vinegar

Snack: Mixed salad with turkey and apple cider vinegar

Exercise: 1.5 hours hip hop class

Snack: One apple with a carton of plan chobani greek yogurt

Dandelion and nettle tea during the day

 

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Today was the first day back after vacation and I was ready to launch myself full throttle into the 100 Healthy Days challenge. I am feeling super motivated at the moment! May have something to do with all the fit bods on Venice.

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Muscle Beach, Venice. There was a body building competition on!

I thought it might be a good idea to ‘jot down’ ‘on paper’ (funny how that expression is now practically obsolete with the internet) what the rules of my 100 Healthy Days challenge are. Health and healthy eating can mean different things to different people. As such, I best be specific about what I’m doing lest I draw the wrath of any health zealots out there. ‘You ate store-bought Greek yoghurt?!? That’s not healthy – you need to buy a cow, and a field and make your own.’

 

I’ve also decided to approach this in stages. I don’t think it’s a wise move to radically change everything about your diet and your daily habits in one go. I tried that once and I lasted one very miserable day before gorging myself on ALL of the carbs, meat, sugar, coffee, salt, dairy, cooked veg etc etc that I came across. 

So, for the next 14 days these are my rules:

1. No processed carbs – bread, crackers, pasta (I’ve decided tortilla chips are fine. I’m not ready to let go yet).

2. No sugary foods – chocolate, ice cream (arrrghhhh), cakes etc

3. When I go out for a meal and host a dinner party I will limit myself to one glass of wine

4. When I go out for drinks or a night on the town I will limit myself to three vodka sodas

 

Sound simple? In theory, but I know i’m going to find this challenging. Particularly, the alcohol rules. No jokes about the Irish liking to drink please. 😉 Even though it’s probably true.

Let’s do this!

 

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The Canadian part of me loves rules.

 

 

 

Day 5: Labor Day – last day of summer and vacation

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Breakfast: Turkey, slice of cheese, tomato, low fat greek yoghurt, strawberries

Snack: Banana and iced coffee

Lunch: Grilled salmon salad with goats cheese and almonds, glass of wine

Dinner: Selection salads at airport (edamame, tomato and avocado, kale and peach, chickpea)

Snack: Crudites, hummus, sunflower seeds (on the airplane!)

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Today was Labor Day – my first one in the US. I had no idea what the purpose of this day was so I had to look it up. It celebrates the social and economic achievements of workers apparently! It also heralds the last day of summer. Sad face.

Today was also the last day of my mini vacation, which was rather apt. We spent it walking down Venice Beach and then headed to Hollywood Blvd. Venice Beach is a bit seedier than I imagined, but there were a lot of ‘typical’ sights to see – rollerbladers with strollers, surfers with six packs (!), skaters in the skate park and a massive body building competition by muscle beach! Hollywood Blvd was interesting enough and we got a bonus view of the Hollywood sign, which was lucky!

As for healthy eating, I was able to avoid poor choices for the most part. I decided to give the eggs a break as I had had them so many days in a row. So, I went for turkey instead. A few years ago I would have turned green at the thought of turkey for breakfast (or even eggs for that matter) but since giving up cereal about 2 years ago, I’ve come around. It’s not that bad!

A surprise for me was the snack on the Delta flight home. Not only was it free, it was healthy! Crudites, hummus and sunflower seeds. It’s very rare to see this on any flight – it’s normally pretzels or a big lump of sugary carb, Interestingly, they were only serving Coca-Cola drinks on the flight. I got to thinking, as Carrie SATC would say – did Coke sponsor the snacks to try to associate themselves with healthy options?

On the flight home I mused over my healthy eating challenge and how I fared during the vacation. Overall, I would happily declare it a success. Whilst not all of my choices were 100% clean or healthy I definitely made a more concerted effort than I normally would. I did allow myself a glass of wine, the odd piece of cheese and some frozen yogurt, but in general I avoided the really bad stuff- processed carbs and excess sugar. If I had been 100% clean I think I would have been slightly miserable. And what’s the point in that?

Tomorrow I will be throwing myself wholeheartedly into the challenge – clean living and back to exercise!!

Skater boy at the skate park in Venice Beach

Skater boy at the skate park in Venice Beach

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Baywatch!

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Me on Venice Boardwalk

Day 1 – the day before the vacay

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  • Breakfast: Egg whites, steamed kale, chia seeds, raw red peppers and a large coffee 
  • Snack: Cherry tomatoes
  • Lunch: Chicken with mixed green salad
  • Snack: Carrots and aubergine dip
  • Dinner: Omelette with cheese and tomatoes and mixed green salad
  • Lots of water and nettle and dandelion tea
  • Exercise: Power Sculpt class, 1 hr

 

Day 1 Food

 

As today was the day before the big Cali road trip I tried to go as easy on the food as possible. It’s so hard to be 100% clean and healthy on vacation (and in fairness, kind of boring) so I kind of feel like as much good work as I can do beforehand the better. So this meant loads of water and herbal tea and no refined carbs or sugar – including sugar from fruit. It wasn’t 100% perfect – I accidentally had eggs twice and I could have done without the cheese but it was a good enough effort. Even my parents peer-pressuring me into having a glass of wine didn’t sway me!

And even though my quads were killing me from the workouts earlier in the week I dragged my butt along to the exercise class today. Squat-hell. But hopefully worth every minute.

Overall a good day, ending with some road trip planning with my Mom. Some exciting days ahead with some of the best scenery in the world!

Day 1 Food

Let’s do this! High fives all round and a big group hug.

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They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Well go right ahead and call me cray-cray!

Over the past 3 years or so, I’ve been spending a lot of money on expensive exercise classes (Crossfit, I’m talking to you), healthy food (organic quinoa don’t be growing on trees, even in SF) and random health crazes (wash my mouth out twice a day with virgin coconut oil -seems necessary to me).
 
But I haven’t really seen any significant change in my body.
 
It’s not that I mind the money – I would happily invest heavily in health. It’s the lack of any major progress after a whole lot of effort  that’s the biggest bugbear.
 
I say effort but I have the feeling I’m my own saboteur. All of those nights out, boozy brunches, desserts, wine Wednesdays, chocolate Thursdays etc etc that I ‘treat myself’ to, have somehow become the norm, This has been compounded by the fact I’ve recently moved to SF – a city of bottomless mimosas, margaritas and guac, Sunday Fundays, and gourmet EVERYTHING.
 
So, in an effort to turn the tide I’ve decided to take a leaf out of www.100-healthy-days.com and commit to, well, 100 healthy days in SF! Over the course of these 100 healthy days I will make a concerted, dedicated and publicly documented effort to be healthy.
 
100 days will take me nicely into the holiday season and a joyous homecoming to Ireland. How would I love to breeze into my old local in Dublin, to cries of ‘Jaysus – you look amazing’, or ‘The California lifestyle is obviously suiting you’ or even better from the jealous ones ‘She’s taken it too far, she’s lost her child-bearing hips…’
 
There will be MANY obstacles in my way between now and then of course:
1. Road trip to LA with my parents – happening on Day 2
2. Work conference in Las Vegas
3. Long weekend in Mexico
4. Thanksgiving in Tahoe
5. Many, many SF boozy Sunday brunches, random food-related events, margaritas in The Mission, Napa wine tours etc etc
 
However, there are many things in SF that will also help:
1. Free healthy food in work
2. An abundance of fresh Californian fruit and veg
3. Nice weather!
4. Paleo Margaritas
5. Many, many beautiful, tanned, toned, healthy people to motivate me.
 
So, while it will be tough, no doubt, I am confident I can do this, with baby steps and an attitude of loving kindness!
 
Let’s do this!
Michelle
 
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